Battered And Beaten
by TheFirstLotus
Summary: The Republic forces on Felucia are outgunned and outmatched. There might be something going on below the surface that would explain their mysterious defeat.


He pulled his heavy plastoid helmet down on to his scarred face. The heads-up-display inside his visor strained his eyes with its green glow. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind and immediately winced. The throbbing pain in his skull dragged his focus back to the situation at hand. _I've gotta get out of the open._ The clunky full-body armor that adorned him hindered his ability to stand up. It was only a surge of adrenaline that bestowed upon him the ability to painfully pull himself up. As he stood, a sharp pain shot up his side. He wondered if he had broken a rib but decided it ultimately wouldn't matter; there was little chance he would ever make it back to a med center.

He looked around at the carnage that surrounded him and grimaced. He stood alone. Scattered across the bioluminescent flora were dozens of mangled droids his battalion managed to destroy. The degree of their success was made evident by the hundreds of fallen clone troopers littered across the colorful foliage. Laying beside him were Rod, Flare, and Gutter, his closest and most trusted troops. He leaned down on a knee and pulled off Rod and Flare's helmets. Both their face's countenances bore the eerie, neutral expression of death. When he pulled off Gutter's helmet, however, he was relieved to detect a pulse. Most of the grenade went into his brothers and Gutter was in a far worse condition than Sparrow. He got up and slung his captain's limp, damaged body over his less injured side. Behind him was the communication center. He had to try to retreat there and call for reinforcements. His eyes drifted forward across the battlefield and saw a robed figure who stood out from the rest of the fallen soldiers. General Cyna's lightsaber lay beside her in a patch of plants. He thought it ironic that such death be surrounded by so much life. _We've failed here_.

"Hold it right there!"

What remained of the droid platoon were now swiftly and cautiously approaching Commander Sparrow with their blasters raised. Thinking fast, Sparrow reached for one of his own twin pistols. Hot laser fire whizzed past him as he dashed behind the wreckage of a downed Republic walker. He managed to get a couple of shots of his own before he was pinned down from all angles. The droids had rushed to surround him in a wide arc. _This is it_ , he thought with resigned determination. _This is how I die_. He laid his unconscious brother against one of the legs of the felled AT-TE walker and drew his second pistol. He wasn't going down without a fight.

Beside Sparrow lay a utility bag with a few unused electrical charges left inside. He grabbed one and knew what his next move was. As soon as the droids paused firing for a moment, he lobbed the charge with his right hand and waited a second before running out of cover with a barrage of blaster fire. The distraction worked. He took down three droids in their vulnerable state of processing information. Their bug-like bodies fell to the dense jungle floor. The charge itself took down another four droids. Unfortunately for him, there were still about twenty droids left. They all looked at him, surprised that one clone decimated so many of their comrades so quickly. They quickly got over this, however, and opened fire on the now exposed target. Sparrow ducked and weaved but couldn't keep up. He shot at as many of them as he could but the lasers were ceaseless. He managed to get behind some sort of tree-like plant and use it as cover. He fired a few times from behind it before the sheer power of the droids' collective blaster fire ripped the plant apart. Now with nowhere to hide, it was a matter of time before he would go down. He unleashed a volley of bright blue laser. Only three of his shots met their targets before a red blaster bolt tore clean through his heavily damaged shoulder plating. Sparrow shouted out in pain and collapsed to his knees.

"For… th-the… Republic!"

He raised his one good arm and fired, taking down one last foe. The droids did not hesitate to fire.

Sparrow's body fell to the floor of the jungle. The sky was a mesmerizing mix so pink and blue. He loosely gripped his single pistol. He felt a wave of energy flow over him. He heard the unmistakable hiss of an igniting lightsaber and the sounds of blaster fire. It was all so distant. His eyelids fell and all was black.


End file.
